Posts

The new look Molyko “Omnisport” stadium hosted its first southwest division two Championship games since its refurbishment in 2016 on sunday, May 28, 2017 putting paid to speculations that the edifice was just an ornament meant to embellish Buea Municipality.

The narrative that had gained currency within Government circles was that the refurbished stadia will be accessed by local teams only after the 2019 AFCON games to be hosted by Cameroon. This, by their reckoning, is because they are to serve as training grounds for teams that will eventually qualify for the final stage of the competition. The first match pitted Catholic University Sports Academy against Dynamic Football
Club and ended in a 2-0 score in favour of the former. Later in the day, legendary Prisons FC lost 1-3 to visiting Maumu Youths. The two games were part of Day Two of the Southwest Regional league and pulled crowds from Buea and its environs; with families at the stands watching the games, something hitherto unknown in playgrounds West of the Mungo.

This is coming at a time when coaches and players, surprisingly, complain about the poor state of pitches on which they play games, which have negative bearing on their performances. According to them, they ought to have been granted unlimited access to the two renovated stadia in Buea; Buea Town and Molyko arenas. The Secretary General of FECAFOOT Southwest, Mayebi John, in an interview said the pitches cannot be used fully till the end of the 2019 AFCON. “We cannot sacrifice these pitches for now, till after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. For now, we are just negotiating with the Stadium Director, to use the fields,” he held.

By implication, teams hosting matches of the Southwest League in Buea don’t have guaranteed access to the refurbished sports grounds. It is noteworthy that Southwest Division two teams in Limbe have been playing matches at the Middle Farms Stadium. The irritating point with regard to the use of these stadia is the fact that Limbe teams enjoy unfettered access into the Middle Farms stadium while Buea teams are condemned to the whims of the stadium Director who has to be begged before the Molyko facility is opened.

It is this discrepancy in according access to stadia built at the same time and for the same purpose that many in Buea have perceived as injustice being perpetrated by some highly placed Government functionaries who think that they own the Region.